The One That Got Away
by thecharmedones27
Summary: When things like this happen, who should we blame... Destiny? It wouldn't be fair, would it? But they are face to face again, their paths have crossed one more time so what that so call 'Destiny' would prepare for them this time?
1. destiny's reunion

**Yeap... it's me and I know I shouldn't publish a new story having two other that I haven't updated in a very long time but I must be honest with you; I'm going to a huge writter's block (still working on a new chapter of TIFR) so... I read somewhere that people is not longer writing new Paily fics (except for one of my fav. siophiefandom** **who has a pretty good story going. I highly recomend for you to read it) which made me think about some ideas for a new fic. Hopefully, I could use this one as a second air to continue with my other two. Meanwhile, I had to write this and have my closure for the stupid ending of PLL becasue for me it doesn't matter how bad Marlene screwed things up. Paige and Emily will always belong to each other.**

 **Note: This story starts 5 years after the great (bullshit) finale ;)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the story or any character of the PLL world (otherwise everything would end up different)**

 **-Paily love-**

* * *

 **(Rosewood – June, 10th 2022)**

"Paige…?" Emily asked beyond surprised "Oh my God, what…?"

"I know I'm as surprised as you are…" Paige let out a bright smile "though in my case I had the feeling I would see you at some point" she stated

Emily looked at her confuse. Did Paige come back for her? "I don't understand…"

"I…"

Paige was about to explain herself when she saw a very familiar face coming out of the bakery

"Paige!?" the woman used a harsh tone on her "what are you doing here?"

"Nice to see you too Alison, how are you?" Paige asked politely

"Yeah… hi" she looked at Emily, who returned a hard look "sorry, I was just surprised to see you here"

"It's ok, I understand. I was just telling Emily the same thing"

"Yeah, Paige was about to tell me what brought her to Rosewood" Emily said intrigue and excited, which called Alison's attention

Paige just smiled at them, leaning a bit, as if she was about to tell them a secret "you won't believe this but it seems destiny keeps pulling me back to Rosewood"

Emily didn't noticed at the beginning how changed Paige was, the impact of seeing her there in front of her again, make her head blurred but now that she was hearing the other woman talking she could noticed how relax -and probably… free?- she looked. Not even Alison's presence was bothering her anymore, she looked so confident and sure of herself, treating her wife as a true friend. Emily didn't know if she should appreciate that or feel sad of the fact that Paige was completely over them, the only thing she knew was that something definitely moved inside her when she saw the woman after all those years.

"It turns out…" Emily went out of her trance when she heard Paige's voice again "my in laws live here now…" Paige finish, still with a smile plaster on her face

Emily felt like someone had slapped at her, even though she knew she shouldn't feel like that, she couldn't help herself

"In laws? So you got married…" Alison voiced what Emily was so desperate to ask

"Yeah, I did… in fact you probably saw her inside" Paige said directing her attention to Alison "of course you couldn't know who she was"

"Well the place is not too crowded, maybe I did cross paths with her" Alison answered, after Paige's news she was feeling more comfortable

"It's the brunette…" Paige started "who is actually walking out of the bakery, right now" Paige smile got wilder when she saw the pointed woman walking to her, surprisingly; holding a kid in her arms

"He just woke up and asked about you as soon as his eyes got open" The woman smiled at Paige

"Mama…!" the little boy turned his body a little, addressing her mother and asking silently to go into her arms

"It's ok, buddy. I'm here" Paige said softly. The toddler rested his head into her chest as soon as he was in her arms "what happened? You had a bad dream?" she asked sweetly

"No… he just miss his mama that's all, right buddy?" The brunette smiled at the picture of her son resting peacefully in her wife's arms

Paige smiled at him before raising her head again, addressing Emily and Alison who were still standing there; one looking at them with surprised but satisfaction, the other one with sweetness and… something she couldn't describe at that moment.

"I'm so sorry, I'm so rude. Emily, Alison, this is my wife; Heather. Heather, this is my friend Emily and her wife Alison" something definitely twitch inside Emily this time, almost feeling like a stab. Since when did she move to the friend category in Paige's life? "and this…" Paige continued "is my little sweetheart; Daniel" she pointed at her son

"Nice to meet you both" Heather answered politely

"You too, Heather" Alison returned the gesture and turned to her side to looked at Emily, waiting for her wife to returned the gesture as well but the woman was deeply drowned in her thoughts

Heather wasn't Paige's type, not physically at least, there was something about her Emily couldn't cope with. For some reason the girl wasn't on her like-people list. It was like seeing her there, standing next to Paige, was making her look so small and that had nothing to do with her height. Yes, the woman was pretty enough; long, wavy, black hair, hazel eyes, light skin, a couple of inches shorter than Paige, she has a nice body – thing and fit but not sporty- and looked more like the intellectual kind. Yeah, she was good but it wasn't enough for Paige. Paige was the kind of person who deserved the best of…

"Emily!?" Alison could finally call her wife's attention

"Sorry… I was thinking about the girls, they're about to get out of school and I want to be at home for them" Emily said, gaining a strange look from Alison "Nice to meet you Heather" was the only thing she said before she turned around

"Em…?" she heard Paige calling at her. Hearing Paige's voice addressing her by her nickname after all those years, was definitely doing something to her. She turned around slowly, trying to act as normal as possible "I wanted to invite you…" Emily's heart bumped in her chest a little. What was happening to her? "actually, I wanted to invite your girls to Daniel's birthday party"

"Oww… you guys have kids?" Heather intervened when she found out the news "we'll be glad if you can join us. My parents have just moved out here a couple of months ago and is the first time we came to visit, well… MY first time, I know my wife grew up here but since she moved out she lost contact with her friends and we don't know much people around so it'll be good if Daniel gets contact with other kids" Heather said hopefully, she really wanted for her son to start making friends

"Sure…" Alison started but Emily interrupted her abruptly

"We'll make our best, hopefully we'll be there but you know how this is, you only got the weekend to spend time with your family and we promised the girls to go visit my mom so…" Alison looked at her wife like she has grown two heads; since when did they spend 'family weekends'? And when she was planning to tell her about visiting Pam?

"Oh… ok, we understand" Paige said, she couldn't deny she was a bit disappointed. Emily looked at the floor feeling ashamed of herself for acting so rude

"Well, in case you could make it" Heather added cheerfully "the party is going to be this Saturday at six" she took a card from her purse and offered it to Alison "there's my parents' address"

Alison took the card and when she saw the name in it her eyes grew wild open "You're William Allen's daughter?"

"Uhm… yeah, do you know my father?" Heather asked curiously

"He is one of the most important bankers in the business world. He is the owner of the biggest bank's chain in the State" Alison pointed out, still in shock

She and Heather got into a pretty interesting conversation, forgetting for a while that their respective partners were waiting for them. Though Emily was feeling pretty awkward just standing there looking as an outsider, she took her time to look at Paige; the woman, in contrast to herself, was looking pretty relax, playing with the little boy who was now trying to walk into the Candy shop that was just next to the bakery. Emily was feeling pretty worn out, there were too many news to handle in such short amount of time. Paige was back in Rosewood, looking more beautiful than ever, if that was even possible, but she wasn't alone, she was married now and has a family on her own. Something that Emily never thought it could happen, or more like she never thought it would happen with another woman that wasn't her. Her head was spinning now and all she wanted was for Alison to cut the conversation to go back home.

"Not anymore" Heather answered to Alison "he is retired and manages everything from home now but he thought it will be useful to make new cards to let people know where he lives now"

"Good to know; my brother and I were thinking about reopen the family business, we actually thought about going to your father asking for help again. His name was the only thing we used to hear when our parents had the lead of the company"

"I'm sorry, what's your family's name?"

"Dilaurentis"

"So you're the Dilaurentis' daughter. Of course, I remember your parents spending time at our house. I heard about what happened to them. I'm really sorry"

"Oh, so you've heard what happened to them?" Alison asked but looking at Paige, who was still distracted playing with her son until she realized she was the focus of attention of the two Rosewood girls

"Don't look at me…" Paige said half joking

"Oh, no, no. It wasn't Paige the one who told me about what happened in this town. To be honest it was all over the news around the country, I actually thought Media was too cruel on the people who was living here by that time. When I met Paige and she told me she was from here and that she had some things to tell me I chose not to ask. I told her that I wanted to date her, not her past" Heather said sweetly looking at her wife

Emily let out a groan that she had to cover as a cough when Alison turned to look at her "Ok, Alison, I think is time to go see the girls. See you around" Emily forced a smile

"It was nice to meet you Emily, and Alison please feel free to go to my parents' house, maybe I can help with your business" Heather offered kindly

"I'll definitely take your word on that. Thank you" Alison took Emily's hand and before she turned around she added "It was a pleasure to meet you Heather, and Paige…" she made a short pause, carefully choosing her words "I'm so glad you finally found the love of your life" both Heather and Paige smiled at the comment. Emily just close her eyes, forcing her brain to forget those words, though she knew things have never been that easy.

* * *

 **I haven't read about this topic before so tell me what you think. Should I continue or it'll be too much? Just let me know. See ya... (hopefully with a new TIFR's chapter... if you're still interested)**


	2. Tuesday (First Day of Many)

**Hey guys! Thank you so much for your support with this new adventure. I wasn't sure you would like the idea since it sounds a bit complicated but again... that's how Paily's story has been so far, right?**

 **Anyway, seeing that you want to keep reading more about this, I'll keep updating...**

 **Just to let you know, on the first chapters some topics (like the other girl's lives and all of that) will be cover in a general way because I already know how to fill those blanks. I know you have a lot of questions and I promise I'll answer all of them with every new chapter so if you want to know about something specific, just leave your comment.**

 **Btw... long dialogues in italics are definitely flashbacks :)**

 **Thank you again, for your comments and your support. Here's the second chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **-Paily Love-**

* * *

"Wow… I never thought she'd put a foot on this town again" Spencer said to the group.

The next day of her unexpected encounter with Paige, Emily reunited the girls to talk about the news. She didn't know why but she was feeling the need to talk about it and somehow rid of the weight in her chest. They were shock, of course, by the new information Emily just gave them.

"And…?" Hanna asked after a few seconds of silence

"What?" Emily asked back not following Hanna's implications

"How was it?" Emily looked at her curiously "seeing her after all this time" Hanna's question didn't have a malicious purpose but she needed to know Emily's feelings about Paige. The blond always knew that at some point Emily will always be attach to her ex; at least a part of her.

"I…" Emily thought for a few seconds about her answer. She spent the whole night awake trying to figure out what was that she was feeling but with no answer in sight "I guess I was shock at first, you know. Like Spencer said I never thought she would ever come back but she did"

"Yeah. Married and with a kid" Hanna pointed out

"Hanna" Aria warned her

"What? I'm just saying… when I found out Caleb had moved on with Spencer…"

"Can't you use another example?" Spencer groaned, shaking her head in disapproval

It has been more than six years since her flitting romance with Caleb and it was pointless to put a finger on that topic again; they talked and agreed it would be better not to mention it, especially in front of the kids. It took a while for them to go back to the way they were but it took longer for Caleb and Toby's friendship, thankfully little James' (Hanna and Caleb's son) birth gave them the push they need it. A year after James was born Toby and Spencer were talking about getting married and six months after that she was pregnant with little Sofia, so her history with Caleb become exactly that; just history.

"It's the only example I have at hand, besides the only thing I want to prove here is that is never easy to see the person you loved and shared a lot of things with moving on with another person that is not you. No matter how hard you want for them to be happy. Believe me, I tried to be happy for them too but it was a hell of a task" Hanna assured them

"I don't think we can compare your case with Emily's, Hanna. It was probably harder for you because Spencer is one of your best friends but Paige got married with a woman Emily has never seen before" Aria argued

"Thank you for pointed that out, Aria…" Spencer said sarcastically "but I don't think it gets easier just because you know -or don't know in this case- the person your ex is moving on with. I thought Yvonne was a good girl and all but, I never was a fan of her if I have to be honest"

"Well, to be fair you thought Toby was building a whole house for her… from scratch!"

Spencer just glared at Hanna "As I was saying… even when I was with Caleb, just to follow Hanna's example…" Hanna just rolled her eyes at her "my heart at some point was still attach to Toby and when we reconnect I realized I never stopped loving him, even when I did develop feelings for Caleb, what I feel for my now husband has been always stronger. So, it shouldn't be that hard… either you're still in love or not. As simple as that"

"And in your case and Hanna's, you were still in love" Aria recalled looking at them "Emily, on the other hand, has moved on and now has a family to take care of, right Em?"

Emily was distracted thinking on Paige's wife dilemma so the question took her by surprise and she didn't know how to answer

"Em?" Aria insisted

"Of course. I mean… I still care about Paige" she answered carefully, Hanna giving her an 'I knew it' look "you know I always will, I guess it's just weird to see her with someone else"

"And that affects you?" Spencer asked curiously

"Not really… I mean, she seems happy and I… I'm happy for her"

"Great, now say it like you really mean it" Hanna insisted

"Hanna, come on…! Don't dig into a subject that is already buried" Aria warned her again

"If you say so" Hanna said shrugging her shoulders "and please don't say things like 'digging or buried' I've got enough of that, thank you" she said annoyed

"And talking about the owner of your heart… and this house" Aria asked trying to change the subject feeling it was heading to a point of no return "Where's Alison?"

"Uhm… she went to Oregon this morning… to see Jason" Emily said nonchalantly, by that point it was clear her focus of attention wasn't her wife

"What is Jason doing in Oregon?" Hanna asked

"He lives there now" Spencer answered "he didn't take Alex's news too well so he tried to go as far as he could from Rosewood. Last time we talk he and Alison were trying to rebuild their family business"

Emily didn't know if she should mention that Paige's wife offered her help to Alison; it was still weird for her to say, or even think, of Heather as Paige's wife.

"Then, what if we go together to pick up the kids and then for lunch? And, if you behave ladies, we can go for coffee too" Hanna smirked at them

"Coffee… I love how that sounds" Spencer said dreamily, as if she could taste the drink already

After that, the group made their best effort to keep their conversation away from Paige's subject but no matter how hard they tried, Emily's mind was already someplace else. It was really hard to explain; the surprise to see her old flame after all those years, seeing her with someone else, starting a new life away from all the plans they made once, it was shocking, at least it was the only word Emily apparently was able to use. She wasn't confuse, not at all. It wasn't longing or sadness or regret, not even jealousy or envy what she was feeling. No, she was happy for Paige and everything the other girl has accomplished so far. Their relationship was over long time ago and now she, as well, had everything she wanted. She was shocked and surprised that was all.

 _Shocked and surprised -_ was the motto in Emily's head _\- Shocked and surprised,_ _that's all-_

Right…?

* * *

"Emily…" Emily froze when she saw the so familiar face

"Paige… hi. Wh… what are you doing here?" Emily hissed at the question, it was stupid to ask something pretty obvious, it was a public place after all, but she couldn't help to be surprised when she saw her. When Emily asked Spencer to take care of the girls while she goes to the supermarket, she never thought she would find Paige there

Paige raised the supplies' bags she was carrying "I'm the one in charge of the dessert tonight so…" she trailed off

Emily looked at her amused "so you finally learnt how to cook" she tried to down played the awkwardness she was feeling

"Well, it had to happen someday and that day has finally come" Paige joked making Emily laugh softly

And then the moment was broken. They stood there for a few seconds, Emily's awkwardness spreading around, finally reaching Paige as well. It was sad to think that two people who swore to love each other for the rest of their lives were now treating each other like strangers, but it looked like six years had been enough to break whatever was left of their relationship.

Emily was looking at the floor not knowing what else to do with herself and when she finally decided that it was rude to just avoid her ex's eyes, she raised her head to look at Paige, founding the other woman already looking at her intently. Paige smiled at her.

"Listen…" Paige finally took the courage to speak up again "you think you have some time for a cup coffee?" she asked hopefully.

If Paige had to be honest she had already made up her mind about Emily; she knew that day in The Radley was the last time she would ever see the girl. And moving on after that wasn't easy; she had to work really hard on it, after all; forgetting your first love, the woman who taught you most of the things you learnt in your younger years wasn't an easy task but she finally made it. Heather appeared on a breaking point in her life and once she did everything started to make sense again, she has been the person Paige needed and at some point also wanted to be her long- life partner. And when the whole 'Rosewood idea' came up she didn't know what to do at first, she tried to explain once again everything that happened to her to Heather but her wife didn't want to hear a reason so she did the only thing she thought was the best; take her parents in law's moving as an opportunity: an opportunity to make amends with her past and take the best she could from it.

And here she was, asking Emily Fields; her longtime girlfriend (ex-girlfriend) to take a cup of coffee with her with only one purpose in mind; try to rescue some kind of friendship between them, if that was still possible.

Emily thought about it for a few seconds, she wasn't sure if it was a good idea "I buy…" but Paige insisted

"Yeah, sure…" Emily said faking enthusiasm. She was honestly interested in Paige's life, she could even risk her sleep time drinking her third cup of coffee after she took two with her friends earlier, but she wasn't sure if she was going to be able to be happy about the stories Paige was probably about to tell her while catching up on each other's lives. For that Emily would need at least a few days to prepare herself and not just the few hours she got since she saw the other woman after all this time "A cup of coffee won't hurt" but she told herself she needed to make an effort, that was the least Paige deserved it "I hope…" she whispered to herself

They walked into the Brew and lucky for them the place was almost empty so they chose a table next to the window. A girl came immediately to their table, smiling at them and asking for their orders, once she took them, she walked behind the counter to prepare what they asked

"Since when did you start drinking black coffee? That order sounds exactly like Spencer Hastings" Paige joked at her

"Well, when you have two baby girls that manage to do everything at the same time, even cry, you have to be… alert" Emily played along making Paige laugh

"I know what you mean, only in your case it must be harder"

"Double…" Emily smiled, thinking on her girls

An there it was the silence again, Emily for the life of her didn't know how to behave in front of Paige, last time they saw each other the scenery was similar; Paige appeared in Rosewood after a couple of years without seeing each other, the shock of that first moment froze both of them but in the end, the connection they've always shared was strong enough to make things easier, not to mention they were both single and without the weight over their shoulders from years ago. Everything looked and felt so right at that moment that even a bright new future was waiting for them at the end of the road. That was of course, before A- terrorist got in the way again tearing their plans and dreams apart, and now… now everything started over, only in this case destiny decided to connect their roads again but with no chance of a future together and that was something Emily didn't know how to handle just yet

"Emily…?" Paige decided to be the one to make the first attempt

Emily looked at her "yes?"

"I'm sorry" Paige said out of the blue.

Emily furrowed at her not sure why Paige was apologizing for "For what?"

Paige looked at her intently knowing that this was her chance to say what she had in mind "well, first of all; for being this awkward" she smiled at Emily "I… I know it must be hard to see me here after all these years…" Emily grinned at her, there was no sign of cockiness in Paige's voice but she couldn't help herself from smiling at that statement "and I'm not saying this out of self-confidence, not at all, it's just… I know we've been through a lot and act like our past never existed will be stupid and even selfish, and to be honest I don't want that, I don't want to act like a stranger in front of you" Emily felt relief hearing Paige's words "but I also know we have whole new different paths we have to go through now and it wouldn't be fair for Heather or Alison to let our past get in the way" Emily was feeling it again; that strange pressure in her chest, it was weak, but she could feel it either way. She looked at Paige feeling the woman in front of her was trying to make herself as clear as possible, sensing she was getting stock with her own words "I guess what I'm trying to say is… would it be too crazy if I ask you to start over?" Paige asked and Emily could sense the hope and nervousness in her voice "to keep all our memories as something beautiful to remember and move on from there? Maybe… maybe we can even talk about being… friends?"

"Friends?" Emily blew out a laugh she couldn't contain

"Yeah, I mean… I know I had more time to think about it. I've known for a couple of months about my in laws' coming to Rosewood, I figured I will find you here at some point so I had time to process the whole thing. You on the other hand, just saw me after all these years and it must have been a surprise for you, especially after how things ended between us"

"Yeah… things didn't end up as we wanted, that's for sure…" Emily said ironically

"No, they didn't" Paige smiled sadly "but now we have a chance to know each other, or at least this new version of us…" she made a short pause analyzing if her words were making sense "I'm not making any sense, am I?"

"Not much…" Emily smiled at her. Paige was still the same person that used to ramble when she was nervous. Emily found endearing to see her like that

"Well, you see… I'm not going to be around for too long, a couple of weeks tops…" the pressure in Emily's chest started to grow slowly but painfully "and I think we could use that time to… I don't know, reconnect… maybe? I mean, before we started dating we never had the chance to be friends and it would be… new and… nice to start that… a friendship… I…" Paige started to rumbled. She stopped and then smiled "man… it sounded easier in my head" she joked

Of course Emily understood Paige's intentions, the woman in front of her was giving her a chance to start over, to start a new kind of relationship. The problem was that she wasn't sure if that was what she wanted. If she agrees with Paige… then what would happen next? They were supposed to treat each other as longtime friends? Talking about their families and love lives and what's going to happen when she leaves? Are they going to send texts and emails at each other, talking from time to time? She wasn't sure she was ready for that either, not after all the history they share. Sometimes she asks herself how Spencer and Hanna made it; being friends with their exes, but then she remembered that Caleb and Toby were they're exes just for a period of time and now her friends are happily married with their high school sweethearts, with families and all.

But, then again… she has what her friends have. Then why does she feel that something is missing?

"Why don't we take one step at the time?" Emily offered to cut Paige's conflict "we can stop acting weird in front of each other for starters" she smiled at Paige and the other woman smiled back

"That would be nice" Paige agreed. If she had to be honest, Emily's offer was more than she was expecting from their encounter after all that time apart.

Their barista appeared in their table carrying their orders, so they got into it and into a very easy conversation. Emily started to answer Paige's questions about things in Rosewood; how Ezra was still the owner of the Brew and how he and Aria decided to enjoy a few years of their marriage first before thinking about having kids. She told Paige how she and Hanna decided to put their kids on the same school, even when they were in different classrooms (James being two years younger than the twins) because in Hanna's words 'they will be the best friends just like the four of us'. She also told her how Spencer had to deal with the appearance of a twin sister and that it was Alex the one behind Lily and Grace's births. And at some point Spencer became the main topic for them, given that it was her the one who actually went through the most after Paige went away.

In general; the topics were somehow meaningless, it was for sure they were trying at all cost to avoid anything that had to do with themselves, besides the comment Emily made about her twins, everything else were about her group of friends or their families.

Emily was actually talking about her mom, when her phone went off, she looked at the screen to see Spencer's name on it and immediately remembered that she forgot to tell her friend she would take more time than she expected. She apologized to Paige and stood up to take the call, walking a bit further from their table

"Hi, Spence…" Emily greeted her

"Emily, everything all right?" Spencer asked worried

"Yeah, yeah… everything's fine. I'm sorry I didn't call you earlier but I found Paige in my way out of the supermarket and she invited me for a cup of coffee" Emily paused for a bit expecting a reaction from Spencer but she got none so she continued "I guess we just lost track of time"

"Oh… ok" was the only reaction she got from her friend "I was just worried about you, I knew it couldn't take that much time to buy milk and cookies" it sounded like Spencer was smiling at the other end of the line

"Nothing to worry about. I'm sorry you had to stay with the girls longer than you expected, I'm just going to say good bye to Paige and I'm heading home"

"No, it's ok. You can stay as long as you want to. Sofia is already breastfed and sound sleep in her crib so the girls and I are getting ready to start dinner. Everything is under control so you just take your time" Spencer assured her.

Emily was surprised about Spencer's reaction; she got the feeling her friends had been avoiding talking about Paige the whole morning, even during their coffee date. She was sure each of them had their own opinions about Paige's come back but she also knew they were keeping them to themselves so they won't force Emily to deal with that right away.

"Ok… then I'm going to stay just a bit longer and then I'm heading home"

"Sure, not problem"

"Thanks, Spence. Bye"

Emily hung up the phone and put it in her pocket again. She walked into her table's direction ready to continue her evening with Paige when she heard from afar Paige's phone going off, she saw the woman taking the call and stopped in her tracks, away from Paige's sight, when she heard her talk.

"Hello beautiful lady, what's up?" Paige's voice was sweet and mellow so it was only one person she could be talking to "Yeah, I have everything we need. No problem at all, I found Emily when I was going out of the supermarket and I invited her to drink some coffee" she said nonchalantly, making Emily perfectly clear that Paige doesn't keep secrets from her wife. Suddenly a memory started playing in her head…

" _I love you… please forgive me" a 17 year- old Paige was begging in front of Emily's house. The other girl looked like she was ready to head off, she was still upset about Paige leaving that note at the police station and things didn't looked good for them_

 _Paige knew sending that note to the cops was wrong, she broke Emily's trust and she was sorry for it but she didn't regret doing it to protect her girlfriend's life. For that reason she would do the same thing a hundred times_

" _I do forgive you but I don't think I could ever trust you again" Emily looked at her; she had made up her mind, Alison's safety was her priority at that moment and not even Paige was going to stop her, not after what she did_

" _What are you saying?"_

 _Paige heard a car behind her but she didn't dare to take her eyes away from Emily's. She waited there for an answer_

" _Good bye…" It was the last thing Emily said to Paige before she walked away…_

 _-I don't think I could ever trust you again-_ Those words used to show up in Emily's head from time to time, the feeling of regret appearing with them. It wasn't a secret she and Paige were always dealing with trust issues, being A and Alison the reasons for it, but after the time they spent away from Rosewood Emily got time to analyze and realize that it was unfair to blame Paige for what happened, being those words what she regretted the most because she knew Paige was a trustworthy kind of person and she knew she could trust the other girl with her life. But what it took Emily forever realize, apparently for Heather was just one more virtue that came with the amazing 'Paige package'.

"Yes, I will say hello from you, don't worry" Emily's mind went back to reality "I'll be there as soon as we finish here. Do you need anything else? I can go to the bakery and get that chocolate cake you love so much" she offered "yeah, but that dessert is for the family dinner, the cake will be just for us" Paige whispered "I don't care, you always look beautiful to me" Emily heard her giggle, it was like hearing a teen version of Paige, when they used to spent hours on the phone talking about nothing and everything "of course, and after we put Daniel in bed we can go for a walk, there's a beautiful place here in Rosewood I want to show you…"

" _Why are you making such a big deal about this?" Alison asked already annoyed_

" _Because… I changed my whole schedule just to make some time for us but you didn't care" Emily spited out_

" _Em, we can go out some other time. I swear I didn't do this on purpose, Hacket wanted to talk about…"_

" _You know what… I don't want to hear your excuses"_

" _Come on, it's ridiculous to fight about this. We miss a dinner, it's not a big deal"_

" _Yeah… you're right, is not. Make some time to spend time together is not a big deal because is clear that for you spending time with me is not worth it!" Emily said bitterly, her anger was taking the best of her again and she hated that._

" _That's not what I meant, don't put words in my mouth" Alison added defeated, they were constantly falling into the same pattern lately "Em, I love to spend time with you and to be here at home, it's just… there are a lot of important things we have to deal with like work and the girls and it gets a bit hard sometimes but the important thing is that we're together to face it, right?"_

 _Emily thought about it for a bit. She knew at some point Alison was right, they had responsibilities now and maybe was normal for a couple to lose romanticism with time, after all; they have two kids to take care of and there was not time for anything else "Right…" Emily breathed out "it's just… I miss those romantic moments sometimes"_

" _I promise we'll find some time just for us and will have those romantic moments again, just be patient, ok? Once we get everything fix will be back to the way we were" Alison promised_

 _But it's been four years now and Emily was still waiting, those moments never came back, the time was never right…_

"I'm not tired… besides, I don't care if I don't sleep at all, I'll always have time for you" Paige said dreamily, it was like Emily could feel the love just by the words she was pronouncing, words that this time were for someone else "I love you too. See you in a bit" was the last thing Emily heard before Paige hung up her phone, a burning feeling growing in her chest, she tried to ignore it and walked back into the table

"Everything, ok?" Paige asked as soon as she saw Emily standing next to her, oblivious that the other woman heard her conversation

"Yeah, everything is fine. It's just…" Emily showed Paige her phone "Spencer called me, the girls are waiting for me, is almost dinner time so…"

"Oh, sure no problem. I totally understand" Paige couldn't deny she was feeling a bit disappointed, she felt she and Emily were making progress and she was hoping to spend more time with her so they could find some kind of 'normal' between them

Emily absentmindedly took a bill out of her pocket to pay the check when she felt Paige's hand on hers, immediately feeling a jolt on her skin

"I said I'll buy, remember?" She smiled keeping her grip on Emily's hand

"I'll buy the next one then" Emily said without even thinking, gaining a grin from the other woman

"I'd like that" Paige drop Emily's hand to take her wallet and the other woman missed the contact

Paige took her bags and walk next to Emily to the counter. They paid the barista for what they ordered and walked out of the Café. Once outside they looked at each other one last time before Paige spoke first

"See you around then?" she asked hopefully

"Of course, I'm sure we can make plans to go out sometime" Emily offered politely but with no intention to keep her word, she wasn't sure she was ready for another round of romanticism between Paige and her wife

"Thank you Emily…" Paige trailed off

"For what?" Emily asked

Paige just shrugged at her "for your time, for being here, for… making this happen"

Emily just smiled at her, a smile that didn't match with her eyes "see ya…" was all she said before turning around. She could feel something wasn't right. That pressure in her chest was increasing and now her mind was playing tricks on her, triggering memories she thought she had already buried. Something was definitely not right.

"This isn't happening…"

Emily said to herself once she was away enough from Paige, her voice was full of despair

* * *

 **See ya...**


	3. Wednesday (Day 2-Struggles)

**Hello everyone out there! Thank you so much for your support. I love to read your comments and your messages.**

 **Here's chapter 3, I hope you like it**

 **Still... long dialogues in Italics are flashbacks**

 **Btw: I made a couple changes (very small) on ch. 2 for those who already read it. I had some issues calculating the time between the show and this fic. I said the story starts 5 years after the finale ****but I forgot that Paige left like 'a year' before the show ended so I had to chage some details in the previous chapter. No big deal.**

 **Ok, that's it. Enjoy**

 **-Paily Love-**

* * *

The alarm next to her bed went on and Emily extended her arm to turn the thing off. The night was long enough to on top of that have to deal with the annoying noise. Her encounter with Paige left her with a bittersweet sensation; if she had to be honest seeing her ex after all those years left a great impact on her. Paige was happy but she wasn't sure if she was as happy for the other woman as she confessed to her friends the day before, after their first encounter she thought she would have some time to adapt; first, to the idea of Paige being in Rosewood again and second, to the fact that Paige was married and has her own family, but she didn't. She had to deal with all the information right away and now she didn't know how or what she was feeling.

In Emily's head the memory of the last time she saw her ex was still fresh; once again Paige's face was full of hope and happiness, her smile was in full display waiting for Emily to keep her promise of a new life together, and once again Emily found a way to destroy the woman's dreams. For her it was still hard to believe that she was capable of loving Paige as much as she was capable of hurting her and when the other woman walked away that day, she convinced herself it was for the best, that she couldn't keep hurting her like that, so whatever happened to Paige from that day forward was not her concern anymore. Though one last thought cross her mind; if she wasn't able to make Paige happy anymore at least she was hoping someone else could, but one thing was thinking about it and a whole different thing was to be a witness of it.

These thoughts were the reason of her lack of sleep for most part of the night and she was thankful Alison wasn't there to…

"Good Morning" Emily heard her wife's voice from behind her.

When she woke up the first thing that crossed her mind was Paige (which under the current circumstances was really bad) and how the other woman took her sleep away (for the wrong reasons). She rolled over her spot slowly to catch up with Alison's presence

"Morning" Emily answered surprised to see her wife lying next to her "when did you get here?" she asked now facing her

"At dawn" Alison let her know "I think it was like four in the morning or something"

"Wow. You didn't have to do that, everything was under control over here" Emily assumed Alison's change of plans had to do with the twins

"Yeah. I know… if there's someone our daughters can't live without, that's you" Alison smiled at her placing her hand over Emily's "but I actually wanted to be here first thing in the morning because there's something I need to take care of"

"Oh, yeah and what's that?" Emily asked intrigue

"Well now that the girls are on their summer break I have enough time to focus on the family business"

"Really…?" Emily hide her disappointment behind a very convincing excitement; a faced she learnt how to build long time ago. It's not that she wasn't excited for Alison's plans but if she had to be honest, she wishes she and the twins were the reason for her wife's efforts.

But Emily wasn't surprised anymore about Alison putting different reasons to keep her mind 'occupied'. Things started very slowly, at first Emily couldn't notice the difference between Alison's responsibilities and Alison's obsession to keep herself busy all the time, to the point of putting their marriage aside to focus on things that in her wife's words; would 'beneficiate' their family.

It was gradually; the first time Emily noticed a big change was when Alison forgot their anniversary three years ago (one thing was to let romanticism asides and a whole different thing was to forget the important things in their relationship). For all the six years she and Alison have been together, Emily could consider the first two as successful, the other four were definitely not what she expected; she wouldn't say things were a disaster but she was starting to think, and sometimes to feel, that the twins were now the only reason for them to be together.

But Emily couldn't be unfair either, the first two years of relationship (one as girlfriends and the first one of marriage) were a dream come true; it was not a secret that they got together when they found out about Alison's pregnancy but after a couple of weeks going around each other, they started to reconnect and Emily was delight to be there for the mother of her children, to experience the whole pregnancy stage next to the woman that at some point became in just an utopia for her. Nine months later the girls were born and everything became a bless, they were sharing things that neither of them thought would be able to enjoy after such traumatic past, and to make everything even more perfect; three months after Grace and Lily were born Alison took the big step and surprised her with a 'particular' marriage proposal.

The ceremony was intimate; both Alison's and Emily's families were there and of course their closest friends and some of their co-workers, who were the same on both sides given that both were working on the same school. It was planned in less than a month because the school year was about to get to an end and they wanted to take advantage of the summer break to travel for their honeymoon.

When they got back, things didn't get too different from the way they were before; the girls were their number one priority and they were focus on enjoy as much time as parenthood allowed them. Alison on her part was a thoughtful and a very detail- oriented wife; she was constantly having significant details with Emily, at least to the most part of their first year of marriage, then the details became small and sporadically, maybe that's why it was harder for Emily to noticed the changes and when they stop coming it didn't make any difference, not to mention that being a parent was taken a significant amount of time for them so there wasn't too much time available to notice.

What it was a fact though; was that the romantic camps on the kissing rock, the long nights making love, the improvised dates, everything was left way behind them. Alison was definitely not the same selfish, manipulative and abusive person she used to be in high school and Emily was grateful and proud of her wife for that, but after being this caring and loving person through their first years of relationship her personality was changing to a distant, uncommunicative and neglecting kind of person. Long meetings, extra hours, seminars and the list went on and on when it comes to her career and that became a problem for their life as a couple.

"Yeah…" Alison's fingers were trailing patterns in Emily's arm, which the other woman was following with her eyes like she was under some kind of spell "actually, I was about to call Heather…" until Alison trailed off

Emily's gaze went immediately to her wife's face "Heather, as in…" Emily didn't dare to finish her own statement

"As in Paige's wife, yes" Alison added and Emily winced at her words. She definitely needed to train her brain about Heather "I want for her to make an appointment to meet her father that means I'm probably going to spend the afternoon in their house"

"Why?" Emily sounded as the idea was ridiculous and unnecessary

"I talk to Jason about Mr. Allen and he thinks it's a good idea to approach the guy, if we get his support then we can start working on a business plan"

"Alison, I don't think that's a good idea…" but Emily's statement got cut off

"Why? Because she is your ex's wife?" Alison's voice didn't carry any kind of accusation, in fact it sounded that she was joking a bit but Emily didn't took her that way, she was too tired from her lack of sleep to deal with something like that

"What!? Are you serious right now? This has nothing to do with Paige" something in Emily's voice was telling Alison that wasn't entirely true

"Oh, really?"

"Really!" Emily was starting to rise her voice "I was just thinking that now that our daughters are on their break we could spend more time together but I guess I was wrong. Again!"

"Hey… it's ok" Alison tried to reach Emily's face with her hand but Emily pushed her away

"No! It's not ok" Emily sounded frustrated "don't you see…?"

"I see… and I can tell something is bothering you, what is it?" Emily just looked away "talk to me, Emily"

"I just…" Emily looked at her directly in the eyes, she wanted to give a clear message "if you start this new project you're going to invest all your time there and what's going to happen with us? We need you too, you know"

"I know and I'm sorry for being kind of MIA lately" _–lately? -_ Emily thought to herself _–more like the last four years-_ "but once we get everything fix things are going to be the way they were before, I promise" those words sounded familiar

"I just wish we could have more time for us" Emily has repeated those words so many times that they were losing their meaning already

"Well, in that case…" Alison leaned over Emily, kissing her lips slowly "we can take a few minutes before the girls…"

"Mommy, mommy!" the twins run into the room throwing themselves in their mothers' bed

"We don't have school today" Grace said cuddling into Emily's arm

"What are we going to do?" Lily asked looking at Alison

"Mommy has to be someplace else but mommy Em is going to spend the morning with you guys" Emily glared at Alison, who was already getting out of bed. She couldn't believe Alison was leaving her with the responsibility again

"Where are we going mommy?" Lily asked excited, waiting Emily for an answer

"Well… what about if we take breakfast first and then we'll see" Emily offered

"Yes!" Both girls bumped their fists in the air

"Are you taking breakfast with us too, mommy?" Grace asked looking at Alison

"Of course, I'm just going to make a call and I'll catch you on the kitchen, ok?"

"Ok" The twins run out of the room, walking into theirs again

Emily's gaze went back to Alison

"What?" Alison asked when she saw the death glared Emily was giving her

"Really?" Emily said shaking her head in a disapproval sign

"What did I do?" Alison looked truly lost at Emily's behavior

"Nothing…" Emily got out of the bed too, walking to the door "that's the problem…" she walked out of the room and headed to the kitchen to start with breakfast

* * *

Emily wishes she could be stronger. When did her life become into this? It was a stupid question, of course she knew when, the problem was that she didn't know how to fix it.

Looking at her girls now sitting on the table in front of her, all she could think about was how to make them happy, all they were asking for was a morning with their mothers; a freaking breakfast, but Alison was still on the phone with no sign of hanging up soon.

But she didn't want to give up, it would be too easy to just walk away from everything. She took a decision six years ago (Paige being the main loss of that decision) and make a commitment to spend the rest of her life with the woman she loves a year after that and she couldn't throw that away just like that, that's not the example her parents gave her. Aside from their mistakes and misunderstandings Pam and Wayne were great parents; caring, protective (sometimes too much), lovable, especially her dad and that was exactly what she wanted for her daughters.

Emily was always trying to convince herself that these were only difficult times, that at some point everything will get back to normal, that Alison would realize how important her family is for her and get back to be the same woman Emily got married to, she just had to be patient and wait. The real question was; for how long?

" _Well, I hope we won't have to wait for too long" Paige said cuddling into Emily's arms._

 _Even when it was another_ _warm day in California, the girls were getting trouble_ _to get out of bed and the activities from their previous night were not making things easier_

" _Paige, we're just in our sophomore year, don't you think it's too soon to talk about kids?" Emily asked her. She was trying to look as serious as possible but if she had to be honest the idea also crossed her mind on more than one occasion_

" _To have them, yes. To talk about them, I don't think so… I just love to daydream with our future children. Don't you?" Paige looked at her expectantly_

" _Well…" Emily blushed a little "yeah… sometimes…"_

" _I knew it!" Paige bumped her fist in the air making Emily roll her eyes at her "and what's the image you picture on your head?"_

" _Three kids at least" Emily smiled at her "two girls and a boy"_

" _Three, huh? Don't you think it's too much?" Paige grinned_

" _As long as we do it together, I think we can handle it" Emily was convinced that with Paige by her side everything could be possible_

" _You and me and the three, four, five… I don't care how many children we have. I'll never leave your side" Paige sealed the conversation with a passionate kiss that Emily responded with eagerness_

 _The moment couldn't be more perfect and they took advantage of that. They were in love, with a new chance of happiness in her hands, away from their tormented past, away from the town that brought for them so much pain and nothing would be able to destroy that._

It happened again. In dark moments like these she found herself thinking about Paige and how the other woman would behave under the current circumstances. She was sure Paige wouldn't 'abandon' her family in the first place. No, Emily knew it was unfair to compare one relationship with the other, Paige and Alison were complete different people but sometimes she couldn't help herself, it was in an unconscious kind of way; one minute she was thinking on a way to make things better with Alison and the next one her past relationship with Paige was coming to her mind

"Mommy?" Lily called at her

"Are you ok?" Grace looked as worried as her sister

Without even noticed it; Emily at some point had stood up and was now leaning into the sink, focus on a point outside the window her mind far away from home, action that apparently called her kids attention. She turned around addressing her daughters again

"Yes, everything all right" Emily smiled at them "how about you? Are we ready for our play date?" Emily was making her best to change her mood, she knew it wasn't fair for the girls to be in the middle of their problems

"Yes!" both girls yelled excited

"Ok, go brush your teeth while I clean this up"

The girls did as their mother told them and waited for her to head out

* * *

"Two days on a roll. Am I a lucky woman or what?"

"Paige…" Emily smiled when she saw the woman standing next to her little boy

"Hi, Em" talking about memories; Paige's voice pronouncing her name was another thing she was missing "how are you?"

"Everything all right, just taking a walk with the girls" Emily looked at both sides pointing at her daughters with her head

"Oh my God! Are these Grace and Lily? They are so beautiful" Paige said and the twins grinned at her wildly

"Yeah. This is Grace…" Emily pointed to her right "and this is Lily" then pointed to her left

"Hi, girls" Paige bent over to remain the same height from the twins "My name is Paige McCullers, it's so nice to finally meet you. Your mother talks about you all the time" of course Paige was just being polite given that they have seen each other for just two days

"Nice to meet you too Mrs. McCullers" The twins said at the same time. Emily wasn't kidding, the girls were very coordinated

"You can call me Paige, I'm a friend of your mom after all" Emily just smiled at the comment, not wanting to overthink about it "I'm guessing you came here to play"

"Yes"

"Do you mind if I introduce you to a new friend?" Paige asked tentatively

"Not at all" Grace answered excited

"The more the merrier" Lily added as excited as her sister

Paige laughed at the twins' antics. She turned to look for Daniel, who was behind her clutching at her arm.

"This is my son, Daniel. Daniel, do you remember Mrs. Fields from the other day?" Paige saw her son nodding in confirmation "well, these are her daughters; Grace and Lily. Go say hi to them"

Daniel walked a few steps in front of her mother "Hi" he raised her little hand greeting at the three of them

"Hi, Daniel" Emily bent over as well so she could look at him in the eyes. Daniel's shyness reminded her to a very special person to her "So glad to see you again" Emily left one of her daughter's hand to caress the top of his head making Daniel smile softly

"Mommy, is it ok if we show Daniel our toys?" Lily asked her mother

"Of course sweetie"

"Come Daniel, we have superheroes too" the girls showed Daniel some superheroes' dolls

Daniel looked at her mom asking for permission, Paige smiled at him and nodded. When she saw his little boy playing with the twins, she smiled proudly at him before taking her attention to Emily

"He is just a bit shy but once he gets to know you, you'll need tape to shut him up" Paige said making Emily laugh

"Just like someone I used to know" she looked at Paige intently in the eyes. Emily couldn't help the comment; Daniel reminded her too much to Paige, or at least the shy version of her. Paige dipped her head and Emily smiled at the reaction her words had on the other woman "So…" Emily continued, afraid of the silence "I see I'm not the only one who was trying to keep my kids busy"

"Well, we promised Daniel we'll come to the park today but Alison called and Heather invited her to her parents' house, they got into that meeting full of numbers and boring stuff, so my buddy and I run away from there, right buddy?" Emily saw little Daniel nodding at her mother

"I'm so sorry Paige, I'm sure Alison didn't mean to…"

"Oh, no Em, I didn't say it to make you feel guilty. I know Heather and when she gives her word she makes everything that's in her hands to keep her promise. She agreed to help Alison so that's what she is doing" Paige smiled

"Yeah. She and Jason are trying to bring back their business. They still can't accept what happened with Mary Drake and…" Emily stopped when she saw Paige rising her finger

"Wait a second" Paige whispered to Emily before directing her attention to Emily's daughters "Girls, do you think you can take this little guy to the swings?" but Daniel looked at her mother not sure about the idea

"Don't worry big guy" This time was Emily's turn to talk. She wasn't sure about Paige's plans but if the kids weren't part of them the least she could do was help "you can go play with the twins" she assured to Daniel before directing her attention to the twins "you're going to take care of Daniel, right girls?"

"Of course, mommy" they answered at the same time

"Ok, have fun then…" Paige smiled at the three of them

Grace and Lily took each of Daniel's hands and guided the little boy to the swings, which fortunately were free for them to play. Paige pointed to the bench behind them so they could take a seat

"Sorry. I don't want for Daniel to get involve in whatever you're about to tell me, which I think it has to do with A or A.D or whatever you call that baster"

Emily looked at Paige and realized that the woman in front of her was completely changed. While they were dating Paige was a constantly ball of nerves; half of the time fearing for Emily's safety and the other half fearing for her own but now; now she has this strong, decided and full of courage woman in front of her and automatically remembered how even when she was that afraid girl, Emily felt always safe under her wings.

"Yeah, it has. You know Mary Drake took all the money from them, even when Jason warned Alison about her hidden intentions she needed desperately to believe in her good will, it was her aunt after all, but it didn't work out that way and now they are trying to put the company on work again, to have the family business running"

"Well, you won't have to worry about that, Heather will help and believe me when I say she is really good at what she does" Paige put her hand over Emily's for reassurance. The old feeling of protection coming back to Emily

"Thank you, but is not me the one you need to convince, it's actually a project only Alison is focus on"

"Yeah, but if Alison is ok then you and the girls will be ok too, right?" Paige pulled her hand away, Emily missing the contact immediately

"Of course" Emily smiled at Paige's good intentions more than the statement itself

"Now, please don't get me wrong…" Paige leaned a bit, her face staying close to Emily's "but the day is too beautiful to be talking about A and her dark soul, don't you think? why don't you and I go over there" Paige pointed to where the kids were playing "and join our children on their playdate"

Emily's mind was racing, her concentration got lost when she saw Paige's face getting close to hers and her heart started to beat like crazy in her chest. If this was the kind of 'normalcy' Paige was offering yesterday then it was going to be harder than she thought.

"I… uh, sure" Emily blinked repeatedly gaining some composure back, though it took her a bit longer to notice that Paige was already up and ready to catch up with the kids

"Come on Fields, it's a great day to play" Paige started to walk to the children's direction "what do you say kids, you think you have space for two more"

"Yes!" the three of them yelled excited to see their mothers coming to play. Emily smiled wildly at Paige's enthusiasm.

 _I don't care how many children we have. I'll never leave your side-_

* * *

 **Ok, let me know what you think. See ya...**


	4. Thursday (Day 3- Holding on)

**Hey guys! First of all, I want to thank you all for your comments and your support. It's amazing what a comment can do to my day and I'm glad you like every, new and crazy idea I have.**

 **So... I know I said I wouldn't come back until I finish We Found Love (which I'm still working on the final chapter) but I read some news about certain couple's divorce that gave me some... inspiration to get back to this story, at least for the moment.**

 **And here's a new chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **-Paily Love-**

* * *

Emily knew it was a terrible idea. When Alison came back home the night before with the news and the offer, she knew she should have said no. She understood Alison's reasons to 'celebrate' her accomplish but, was it necessary to make it like that? It was too soon and she was definitely not ready for it. _\- Good things deserve to be celebrated –_ at least that was what Alison said

" _We made it" Alison was smiling wildly when she crossed the door of her house. Her really good mood called the attention of Emily and the girls who were on the living room watching TV after having dinner (of course Alison called earlier to say she couldn't make it)._

 _The twins smiled at her mother's antics but Emily knew better "what is it, mommy?" Lilly asked looking at Alison_

" _Well…" she took a sit on the couch next to her daughter "mommy finally got the deal we were looking for"_

" _Yes!" the twins yelled excited for her mother's happiness even when they had no idea why_

" _Which means..." Alison continued "everything will be better from now on" she hugged both of her daughters who returned the hug back_

 _Emily was looking the exchange from her spot, the image getting directly to her heart. There, in front of her was everything she wanted in life; a wife and a family, and even when her brain was fighting against her heart, she was determined to give her marriage a new chance. She really wanted to believe this will be a new beginning for them; as a couple and as a family, and even when Emily new this opportunity will bring more long hours and a very busy schedule for Alison, she was willing to wait and to be patient to make things work._

" _Now…" Alison talked again "what if we pick a movie to watch?"_

" _Really!?" the twins asked looking at Emily_

" _Well, only if mommy Em says that we can" Alison looked at Emily as well seeking for approval_

 _Emily was delighted to spend some family time_

" _Of course, we can" the twins' faces lightened up "But first…" Emily continued before the twins could celebrate properly "you have to go change into your pajamas, got it?"_

" _Got it" they answered running upstairs into their room_

 _Emily looked at them until they disappeared on the bottom of the stairs and turned to look at Alison who was already focus on her_

" _Thank you" Emily told her_

" _For what?" Alison asked her confused_

" _They miss you… I miss you, and you spending time with us means a lot"_

 _Alison leaned forward, kissing Emily's lips softly "I'm really sorry for not spending more time with you guys I… I've been trying to do my best and I didn't realize how my…'efforts' were taking so much time away from you"_

" _Ali, I know it's been hard for you; everything we went through, everything we had to fight for, the life we had to face so suddenly but it's been hard for me too and I need you there, I need to know that I'm not alone" Emily said almost in a pleading voice_

" _You're not"_

" _But that's how I've been feeling the past few weeks" Emily was letting everything out, even when she was making up the truth a bit_

" _Oh…" Alison thought about Emily's words for a few seconds "and here I was thinking that I was doing things different from my parents" she said disappointed_

" _And you are, you're doing everything different from them. You're not like them, you just have to focus on what is important and spending time as a family is the most important thing we have"_

" _You're right. We've been through a lot together and it's not fair from me to just focus on my goals, you and the girls are my priority and that'll never change so, from now on I'll try to spend more time at home with you" Alison kissed Emily's lips again "thank you, I've always loved how you find the way to bring me back to earth"_

" _Well, we made a promise remember? No matter what happens, if we can face it together then everything will be alright" Emily kissed Alison's cheek_

" _I remember" Alison smiled at her "and talking about spending time together I have a surprise for you… or more like a surprise for us"_

" _Yeah? What is it?"_

" _What do you think about a double date…?"_

" _Double date? With whom?" Emily asked intrigue_

" _Well, as a thank you I invited Heather and Paige to have dinner with us tomorrow"_

" _Oh, really..?" Emily was in shock, from all the things she was waiting to hear from Alison that was the last she would've expected_

" _Yeah. Heather has been so kind to me and I want to show her how grateful I am for that so I invited her to have dinner with us and of course Paige will come with her"_

" _Sure" Emily didn't sound convinced "I think is a good idea"_

" _I know, right?" but Alison didn't notice it_

" _I'll have to look for something to cook"_

" _Don't worry about that. I'll pick our food for tomorrow…" Alison took Emily's hands on hers "I don't want for you to work too much besides, I bet they won't even notice the difference"_

 _Emily didn't know if she should feel offended by Alison's comment, she was pretty sure her wife was able to difference between her food and the one from some stupid restaurant_

" _No need" Emily said a bit annoyed "I'll cook, it's not trouble for me"_

" _Ok, as you like" Alison stood up and went to the kitchen to make popcorn for the girls, leaving Emily alone with her thoughts_

"This is a terrible idea…" Emily sighed deeply

She was in the kitchen taking care of the last details of their dinner. The girls were going to spend the night with Aria, and Alison was taking a shower before their guests arrive. Dinner was supposed to be only for the four of them, which was only making Emily more and more anxious, she at least hoped the kids gave her something to get distracted from certain circumstances she was still not ready for but now that wasn't a possibility.

If she has to be honest Paige has been in her mind since she came back to Rosewood. No, Emily knew that was a lie, she hadn't been able to forget Paige at all. Maybe, she could attribute her thoughts to a big 'what if…', because those words were always playing in her head. What if Alison had never gotten pregnant? What if she and Paige had started a life together? What if they had started their own family? But Emily knew it was pointless, unfair and wrong to keep and embrace those 'if'. They followed different paths and even when destiny was stubborn enough to put them together over and over again through the years, it looks like this time their faith was already dictated.

This exact thoughts were playing in her head when the doorbell rang to take her out of her trance.

"Here we go…" Emily sighed deeply one last time before taking all the courage she needed to go through the night. She walked to the door and put her best host face she could "hey!" she greeted once she opened the door and saw the couple standing in front of her

"Hello, Emily" Heather was the first one to greet her "how are you?" she said stepping forward to hug her

"I'm fine. Happy to have you both here" Emily answered with a frozen smile in her face. Maybe she should down play her act a bit

"Hey, Em" Paige followed her wife's lead and hugged her as well

Emily was taken by surprised but got to enjoy the couple of seconds the hug last, recognizing Paige's essence, which she realized it remains the same after all those years. Paige pull away and gave her the bottle of wine she was carrying. Emily went back into host mode and thank her for the detail.

"So… How're you guys doing?" she directed her attention to Heather

"Everything alright. I apologize for our delay but Daniel has been having sleep problems, even when he loves to spent time with my parents he is still getting use to this town" she told Emily

"It's not a big deal, it was just a few minutes. Besides, I totally understand those kids' mishaps. The twins share their own fair amount of nightmares and sleepless nights, though I don't know how you handle it. In my case, I spent most of the night awake when that happens" Emily shared with them

"Well, to be honest…" Heather started, looking at Paige with a look of complicity "my wife here is the star of the show" she smiled at her wife "the only way Daniel goes to bed is when Paige stay with him until he falls asleep, which is almost every night"

Paige smiled back at her wife "what can I say… he loves very much"

"And I do too but if you keep staying with him every night we're going to be late for every single meeting we have" Heather said playfully kissing Paige's cheek.

Emily's automatic reaction was to look away; this was the kind of things she was trying to deal with, but it was harder than she thought.

"Oh, hey guys…" Thankfully for Emily her thoughts were cut by a cheery Alison who was making her entrance into the living room at that moment "How are you?" she hugged both of them

"We're great. Happy that we can share a couple's night with you" Heather said politely "being a mom is an awesome experience but sometimes you missed the time you used to have with your love before the excitement starts" she said taking Paige's hand on hers

"Yeah, I know what you mean" Alison added and Emily looked at her in disbelief

"Yeah, Alison and I know how important is to spend time together" Emily said with a hint of irony, which Alison did notice this time but say nothing "but don't worry, everything is set up to spend a great night so, what if we start with dinner already?" she asked trying to keep the light mood between them. If there was something Pam taught her as soon as she got married was to not expose her family problems in front of everyone.

The three of them followed Emily's lead and walked with her into the dining room taking their respective seats on the table. They settled there and waited for Emily who went to the kitchen and appeared a couple of minutes later with the dishes for the night. Dinner was going smooth; most of the talking being about business

"I studied Business Management because my father thought it'll be… suitable, you know. When I got into college he was already the Controlling Shareholder of the bank so, for him it was only matter of time before he could own the whole thing so I said; why not? Funny thing, I ended up loving the career and thanking my father for it" Heather explained

"Well, someone would have to take care of the family business once he retires for good" Alison told her

"Yeah, I know. But I definitely won't be like my father" Emily and Alison looked at her confused "my father is the best business man I know but he didn't spend much time with me and my mom. He missed a lot of birthdays and Christmas because he was away from home and I don't want that. I don't want to give away my family time for business, no matter how long that business has been in our family" Heather said taking Paige's hand on her.

In that moment Emily felt a pinch of jealousy and not exactly for Paige's love but for Paige's life. She was slowly finding out that not only Heather was lucky for being with someone like Paige but that Paige was as lucky as her wife, and for those few seconds she wish the couple in front of her were Alison and her.

"So… Heather" Alison was feeling a bit uncomfortable with the path their conversation was heading so she tried to change the mood "you never told me how you and Paige met"

Emily closed her eyes, holding herself together for what she knew was about to come.

"Oh… We met in Iowa, actually. I'd love to say it was love at first sight but…" Heather and Paige laughed at the comment leaving Emily and Alison intrigued

"It turns out the lady over here hated me at first" Paige joked at her wife

"In my defense, I didn't know it was you" Heather fought back

The words were letting Emily and Alison more confused so Paige decided to give them the full story

"It was my second year in town and after looking none stop for a place to spend some quiet and peaceful time I found this small, beautiful and cozy coffee shop just a few minutes from work" Heather was just shaking her head in silence following Paige's words "but there was a little problem… it was always crowded. Every time I went to that place I couldn't find a spot on the parking lot so I thought; if I go there just when they're about to open I would get more chance to find a free spot, so I did"

"I think you can imagine where this story is heading…" Heather said before Paige continue

Emily actually didn't care where the story was heading; the only part she cares about is the one where the woman in front of her ended up getting married with her ex. And that was definitely NOT a happy ending.

"When I walked out of the coffee shop that day, I found a note on the windshield of my car"

"I went all Sheldon Cooper on her. Well, not on her but with the person who was stealing my spot at that moment"

Emily forced a smile on the comment to refrain herself from rolling her eyes

"The note said: 'This is my spot' and that was it" Paige said making Heather laugh

"Oh, but you didn't care"

"Nope. I took out the note and went back the next day, at the same time, at the same spot" those words made Emily smiled sincerely this time. It was a typical Paige thing to be stubborn with something she thought she earned it

"I had to look for a parking lot for hours those days" Heather complained

"I walked out of the coffee shop that morning and there was a bigger note on the windshield: 'either you're doing this on purpose or you don't know how to read'. So aggressive…" Paige smiled at the memory, squeezing softly her wife's hand

"I was pissed by that point" Heather added

"But you know me…" Paige said with a confident tone "Paige Stubborn McCullers wasn't going to give up"

"Thank God, she didn't"

"I went back the next morning…"

"Third time's the charm"

"And she was already there" Paige looked at Heather "standing in the middle of the parking lot, waiting for the enemy"

"Oh, I was so ready to give them a piece of my mind"

"Did you?" Alison intervened for the very first time since Paige and Heather started with their story

Heather shook her head "I couldn't. She got out of her car and I was in shock. I was expecting a big, angry man who was just messing with me, but instead I saw this… gorgeous woman getting close to me and I was speechless"

Emily's discomfort was starting to grow. Why it was so hard for her to move on and just be happy for Paige?

"I have that effect on people, though not in the best way" Paige joked

"Well you did left a huge impression on me. My brain stopped working and all I could say was: 'coffee?'"

"And I was like: 'sure…'. She ended up buying me a cup of coffee"

"And since that day, she didn't only steel my parking spot but also my heart" Heather leaned forward and left a soft peck in Paige's cheek.

" _You, me, donuts and dinners… we can start over up there" Paige said tentatively waiting for her answer_

 _Emily took a couple of seconds before talking again "Yes…"_

" _Yes…?" Paige asked again to be sure_

" _Yes, I wanna go. I wanna be with you…" Emily said convinced_

" _Yes!" Paige had a huge smile on her face_

" _I really love you" Emily declared. That was it, finally her chance to be truly happy_

"Em…?" Alison tried once

" _What you think is gonna happen if I don't go to Stanford with you?" Emily asked with teary eyes. One of them had to face reality and she knew Paige didn't want to be that person_

" _Three thousand miles is a long way, four years is a long time… a lot can happen" the tears were falling freely over Paige's cheeks_

" _We have to face facts, we're not going to be together next year"_

"Em!" Alison raised her voice, finally gaining Emily's attention

"Sorry, what?" she realized Alison and her guests were looking at her intently

"Heather and Paige were telling the end of their story"

"Oh! I'm so sorry I just got lost on my thoughts" Emily apologized to the couple

"Not a big deal, sometimes we got lost in our own world too" Heather smiled at them "besides we already told the whole story, I was just saying that I would go wherever my wife choose to go. I don't think I can live without her, now" she looked at Paige with dreamy eyes. It was obvious Heather was madly in love with her wife.

"Well, it's great when you finally find the person you want to share your life with" Emily forced herself to say

"It definitely is" Paige leaned forward this time to kiss Heather's cheek

Emily looked at the floor again. Apparently Paige's feelings were the same for her wife and that was something new and unexpected to see for Emily. Yes, she was use to see that romantic and lovely side of Paige but not with someone that wasn't her.

"Ok. I don't want to be a burden here talking about business all the time" Heather commented moving to another topic "but before I forgot, I want to let you know Alison that I already bought our tickets for tomorrow and booked a hotel for us" she let Alison know gaining Emily's attention

"I'm sorry… tickets? What do you mean a hotel?"

"Alison, Heather and William are going to Oregon tomorrow morning" Paige answered "WAY too early for my licking" she whimpered comically

"I know, babe but I want to be here by the end of the day. I'm not going to miss our son's birthday on Saturday for anything in this world" Heather kissed Paige's hand

Thankfully both of them were missing the glare Emily had on Alison

"You didn't mention anything about a trip" Emily tried very hard to hide her anger

"Because like Heather said, it's just a matter of hours. We're going to meet a potential investor and then we're coming back. It's not a big deal" Alison shrugged

"No. Of course not" Emily said to Alison before turning her gaze to the couple in front of her "are you ready for dessert?"

"Sure" Heather answered politely

The rest of the night Emily tried with all her being to keep a good mood but the anger was already settle on her and was slowly taking the best of her, to the point that she preferred to stay in silence before saying something stupid. She was begging inside for the whole night to be over and when the time came she was grateful beyond words

"Thank you for inviting us, Alison" Paige said and then directed her attention to Emily "is always a pleasure to eat a dish based on your famous recipes, Emily" Paige said smiling at both "food was delicious"

"Oh. So you're the responsible for such delicious food?" Heather asked, truly impressed

Emily was beyond surprised when she heard Paige's words – _she remembers_ \- was all she could think.

"More like my mother's" Emily recovered quickly from her thoughts this time "but yeah, I guess I took something from her when it comes to the cooking part" she smiled

"Well, then we definitely need to get together some day. I know you won't share you're secrets but I could try to learn something" Heather said to Emily

"Sure… we could figure something out" Even when Emily had a huge headache already, she was trying to act as politely as she could

"Ok. It's time for us to go. Thank you again for everything Emily and Alison, I'll see you tomorrow morning"

"Bye, guys" Alison said to them, finally closing the door once they got in their car. When she turned around Emily was gone and she can imagine where her wife could be

"Ok, I know you're upset right now" she said walking into the kitchen "but…"

"You know what, Alison whatever you have to say, save it. There's a lot of things you hide form me anyway…"

"Em, come on. It's stupid to fight over this, it's just a short trip" Alison tried to reason with her wife but it was pointless

"I'm going to bed. I can take care of this tomorrow"

Emily just turned around and headed to her room, leaving Alison standing alone on the kitchen.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think. Until next chapter (hopefully soon)**


	5. Friday (Day 4- Break Time)

**Hey guys! I'm back... I want to thank you all for your comments and your support. I really love to read every single comment you leave so, thank you for letting me know what you think about this.**

 **This is just a short chapter (kind of a filler) before we get into a very more explicit one. I won't lie folks, more angst is coming ;)**

 **And here's a new chapter. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **-Paily Love-**

* * *

"Damn it!" Emily mumbled under her breath

It's been a hell of a morning for her, literally. Her fight with Alison the night before drown all the energy from her and not being able to sleep through the night was making things even worst. Nothing was getting as she planned and that was driving her crazy, she wasn't known as a perfectionist but it was clearly a bad day since everything she was doing was getting literally wrong.

Thank God she has a coffee date with her friends later because she was desperately needing a reason to get out of her house to keep every negative thought out of her head and free herself from the weight she was carrying over her shoulders.

The twins were already at Pam's since she took them there after breakfast so she has enough time to fix everything that was going wrong, get change and meet he friends at noon.

* * *

But her fight with Alison, and the fact that her wife left the house without even saying goodbye, wasn't the only thing in her mind from the previous night.

She was already on her way to The Brew and if she has to be honest, all she's been thinking since last night was Paige. Paige and her perfect life with her wife. Emily closed her eyes trying to understand why this was happening to her, why was she still hanging on a feeling she should have let go long time ago? She took advantage of her sleepless night to think about it; maybe it was just the fact that Paige looks so happy and her subconscious was telling her that she wants the same, or maybe the fact that her marriage is going through a very rough patch and she is just tired of fighting the same battles every single day.

But whatever it was she spent the night convincing herself that it had nothing to do with Paige herself. It can't be, otherwise she would have chosen her ex six years ago. But then again, she did choose Paige and Paige chose her; chose to give each other another chance, that was until she told her Alison was pregnant. And even then she asked her to stay, to give it a try but Paige as wise as always told her the three of them would be miserable if she did. Well, at least now the only person who ended up being miserable was Emily. One out of three is not a bad number, right?

Emily sighed deeply knowing exactly what she needs to do. She has to stay away from Paige no matter what; the other woman is leaving in over a week anyway and once she's gone all her problems will be over and she could finally go back to her life, even when that doesn't sound so appealing.

She walked into the brew looking for her friends. She spotted them on a table next to the window; Spencer an Aria were up and their backs were facing the door, they were clearly talking to someone but that someone wasn't Hanna because Hanna's back was also facing the door but in contrast of Spencer and Aria, she was sitting in one of the chairs. She got close to see who the fourth person was.

"Hey guys" she greeted them finally calling their attention

"Oh, hey Em. Look who we found…" Spencer trailed of pulling a chair for Emily so the woman can join them

"Hi, Em" Paige greeted cheerfully

Emily stood there for a couple of seconds just looking at the woman –there goes my solid plan of staying away from Paige- she thought

"Paige…" she finally reacted "hi…"

"We were just walking in when we saw her" Hanna let her know

"I hope you don't mind, the girls invited me to your coffee date" Paige asked, still unsure of the invitation; she didn't want to interrupt their meeting

"Of course not" Emily forced a smile "you're always welcome"

"Thanks"

"Paige here was talking about her life in Iowa and how she met her wife" Aria intervened

"You need to hear this Em, is hilarious… and very romantic" Spencer told her and as soon as the words left the taller woman's mouth Emily clenched her jaw

"I've already heard it" she said a bit harder than she intended "yeah, you're right is very romantic"

Hanna was looking at her intently as if she was trying to figure her out

"But that's not all" the blond talked this time "Paige also invited us to her son's birthday party tomorrow so I'm guessing we're going together?" Hanna was waiting patiently for Emily's answer

"Uhm… I'm not sure. I already have plans" Emily was looking for a way out

"Come on, Em. We're all going" Spencer told her

"Besides…" Hanna insisted "what else could be so important that you can't make it to Daniel's party?"

"I… I'm going to spend the day with my mom"

"Really?" Hanna was not going to give up "where are the twins but the way?"

"At my mom's" Emily answered without thinking

"Then problem solved. They're already spending the day with her, Pam won't get upset because they go to a party"

Emily wanted to kill her, in just a couple of minutes Hanna let her without an option

"I guess you're right"

"It's settled then…" Aria added cheerfully

"Thank you. I really appreciate that you're coming tomorrow" Paige let them know, truly grateful for the gesture

They all made their orders and continue with their talk. Emily was lost in thought planning a way to make it out of tomorrow alive. Her plan to stay away from Paige would have to wait.

* * *

"I won't lie, it was pretty hard the first year" Paige admitted

Coffee date was over and Paige offered herself to walk Emily to her mother's house before going to her in law's. They were walking down the street while going into a very deep conversation that they actually didn't know how started

"After I left The Radley that day…" Paige continued "I couldn't stop thinking about you and how 'our last chance'" Paige emphasized the last words with her fingers "got wasted… again"

Emily nodded at Paige's words; she understood perfectly because that was exactly what she felt when she saw Paige crossed the big door of The Radley that faithful day

"Yeah… I guess 'last' is the key word here" there was a hint of disappointment in her voice but Paige didn't notice

"I tried to distract myself with all the moving thing but you were stuck in my head anyway. It wasn't until I found out you moved in with Alison and then got married that I could finally move on" Emily felt a knot in her stomach "I started dating again until I finally met Heather and everything went from bad to good and then from good to better"

"I'm glad to hear that" she was getting really good at lying

"Thank you…" Paige made a short pause before continuing "I know we've been through a lot Em but my offer from coffee date the other day still stands. I would like to think we can be friends at some point. I want you to know that I'm here for whatever you need"

Now, Emily knew what Paige felt when she asked her to give it a try and be more than friends but she rejected her because she was still in love with Maya and friendship was the only thing she could offer to the other girl. It appears friendship is the only thing Paige can offer her right now and even when she shouldn't be this disappointed, she couldn't help herself. And just like Paige that night on high school at the ball, she kept a stoic posture

"I would like to think that too"

"Thank you"

"So…" Emily needed desperate to change the subject "How's life in Iowa?" though she wasn't sure she wanted to hear more about Iowa but it was the only thing that came to her mind at that moment

"Perfect" Paige answered dreamily "I mean, not perfect as in 'I live on a fairy tale' but perfect as in it doesn't matter how ugly things get, having my family by my side give me the strength I need to continue" she smiled widely

"That actually sounds awfully like a fairy tale" Emily joked

"No one lives on a fairy tale, Em. Every couple have their ups and downs, believe me it gets really ugly sometimes but the key is to never stop trying. Love is complicated, more than we want to admit but it's totally worth it. Give everything you have to that feeling, no regrets"

"And if you already gave everything you have to give?" Emily's words left her mouth before she could even think about it

"What do you mean?" Paige asked intrigued

"Never mind. I…"

"No, Em. You're clearly trying to share something and I told you I'm here for you for whatever you need"

"I just… you know what, it doesn't matter"

"It matters to me" Paige said with a serious tone

"I, uhm… we'll talk about this some other time, we're close to my mother's house and a couple of blocks won't be enough to tell you everything" she show a nervous smile

"Ok. But I'll keep that in mind" Paige gave in for the moment

They walked in silence the remaining path to Pam's house until they made it there.

"Please say hi to your mom. It's been a while" Paige said politely

"Don't you want to come in for a while, say hello for yourself?" Emily offered hopefully

"I'd love to but Daniel is waiting for me at home. Maybe if you tell her to come tomorrow with you. I'd love to see her"

"I'll let her know"

"Great. See you tomorrow, then…" Paige got closer hugging Emily in place "Bye, Em"

"Bye, Paige" for Emily those words sounded so repetitive when it comes to Paige. It's like they are always saying good bye to each other.

Paige turned around giving a couple of steps before turning back "and but the way…" she looked into Emily's eyes "every marriage goes into a rough patch, whatever it is that you and Alison are going through I'm sure you're gonna fix it. You love each other, that's all you need" she smiled warmly at her and turned around again, this time without looking back.

And just like that Emily saw Paige disappear. She stood there for a couple of minutes thinking on Paige's words. They sounded so sincere, so… And that's when it hit her; Paige doesn't feel anything for her anymore, she was finally free from that love that made her suffer so many times and for so long. And even when it shouldn't, Emily felt her heart break once again.

Maybe Paige was right and she should focus on fixing her marriage with Alison, but the other woman also mention the word love and Emily was so confused right now that she didn't know to whom her love belongs anymore. A lump formed in her throat, she wanted to cry, wanted to take all the pain away but she couldn't, her girls were waiting for her inside and she couldn't allow herself to be weak in front of them.

She walked the short path to the door with a thought stuck in her head _-Paige is not my past anymore and I'm not hers. Someone else is now her past, her present and… her future-_ She wipe away the single tear falling from her cheek and put on her best smile before going inside.

* * *

 **Slow burn but we're going to get there... Let me know what you think. Till next update...**


	6. Saturday (Day 5- No Mercy)

**Hello to all my beautiful readers out there! I'll start of course, by telling you how grateful I am for the support you show to this story. Thank you all for your comments and your reviews. I really love to read every single one of them.**

 **This story is not as long as it seems, chapters are shorter than my previous fic so if maybe there's something you want to read, just leave your comment and I'll be glad to find a way to added.**

 **Ok. Here it is... a new chapter. Hope you like it.**

 **-Paily Love-**

* * *

It isn't a surprise than the Allen's residence is well located and is one of the biggest in the area and it was only obvious that being their only grandson, Daniel was getting a big birthday party, even bigger than the original now that Paige told her in laws more guests were coming.

Everything was well organized. True to her word; Heater arrived at Rosewood the night before and she and Paige let everything settled for their son's party.

So, everyone was there, even Pam who accepted Paige's invitation and joined Emily, Alison and the twins. Paige introduced everyone to her wife and her in laws and everybody started to mingle around, forming small groups and picking on their own conversations. Paige wasn't an exception; she was holding a very entertaining conversation with the girls when she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"There you are" Heather's father was proudly looking at her "I'm so happy you could make it girls" he directed his attention to the group "you have no idea how important is for me to be close to my daughter's friends" Paige blushed a little at the title her father in law chose. He was always treating her like a daughter but to hear him say it in front of other people was making her very proud and a bit shy.

"You know…" Mr. Allen continued "when Heather told me she was gay…" he looked at the floor as if he was remembering that moment "the only thing I prayed at the time was for someone who could make her happy, someone who could love her even more than I do, which I thought it was impossible" he joked making Paige let out a soft laugh "and I'm so glad she could find this amazing girl over here" he squeezed Paige's shoulder giving more emphasis to his words. The girls in front of them were smiling widely, all of them, except for one; whose heart was full with a different kind of feeling...

 _(Flashback)_

 _Wayne walked into the small apartment, his eyes following Paige's excited voice._

 _"And over here we'll have our own kitchen. I know is small but is a temporary thing. Once we leave the dorms we're going to live here until I find a better job and then we're gonna leave this place and live in a better one. I promise you Wayne we're gonna..." Paige was talking nonstop until Wayne made her stop_

 _"Slow down, Paige" he smiled sweetly at her "I know you're capable of that and more, I've seen you in action before and I know you can get whatever you want" his smile grew wider making Paige blush a bit._

 _"I just want you to know that I'll do everything that's in my hands to make your daughter happy" she said in a serious tone._

 _"And I believe you" he assured her "you know..." he continued walking closer to her, resting his hand on her shoulder "I'm so happy my Emy decided to come here to be with you. You're an amazing girl Paige and I know you'll make my girl very happy. I love you, kiddo... You're a second daughter to me"_

 _Paige had her eyes full of tears, as much as the girl they didn't know was hearing everything. Emily was about to walk into the apartment when she heard her father talking with her girlfriend, curiosity taking the best of her. She didn't want to interrupt what seemed a pretty emotional talk, so she decided to wait behind the half-opened door, her heart filling with love for the interaction between two of the people she loves the most._

 _"I'm so proud of you" was the last thing she heard her father say_

"I'm so proud of you my child" Emily came back to reality once she heard Mr. Allen's voice again "and let me tell you girls… you should be proud too because the person who has Paige in their life is very lucky"

"Cheers to that" Spencer held her glass in the air making a toast.

"Cheers" people in the group made the toast as well

"Now, having said that… I'll take your friend away from you just for a little while" he said to the group "there's someone I want you to meet" he took his attention back to Paige "he's been my partner for 15 years and I want him to meet the next person in charge. Come on" Paige just smiled at the group and walked next to his father in law

"Wow... the guy REALLY loves Paige" Hanna talked as soon as Paige and her father in law were out of ear shot

"I know... He's going to leave everything in her hands, that's pretty big" Spencer added.

There was a short pause after that until Aria noticed there was something out of place with one of them

"Hey, Em... are you ok?" Aria directed her attention to Emily who spent the whole time in silence, looking at the ground. The shorter girl waited for a few seconds but didn't get a response

"Emily!" Alison took Emily's hand trying to get her attention

"What?" She made a double take trying to address everyone around her

"Are you ok? You're kind of pale" Hanna pointed at her face

"I... uhm... actually I don't feel so good. I think I'm gonna head home" Emily put her hand on her forehead rubbing it softly

"Let me go get the girls so we can leave" Alison offered.

"No, no, it's ok... stay. It's just a headache" Alison look at her with narrow eyes. Something was definitely wrong with her wife but it had nothing to do with her head.

"Can we talk for a sec?" Alison did her best to let the question out as softly as she could but at that point it was clear something was bothering her. She didn't wait for a response and just took Emily's hand guiding her wife into the house.

The group look at them and followed their path with the eyes until the couple disappeared inside the house

"Here we go again..." Hanna sighed heavily, knowing exactly what was happening inside between Alison and Emily

"I don't know if I can blame Alison this time. Have you seen Emily lately…? She seems a little… off, like she is physically there but her mind is in a whole different place" Aria pointed out.

"Well I kind of imagine why" Spencer said before taking a sip from her glass.

"Spence... You're not implying...?" Aria trailed of

"Come on, Aria. It's pointless to pretend our host has nothing to do with Emily's behavior. We already do enough by pretending Emily and Alison have a happy marriage"

"Hanna!" Aria scolded her

"What? You can yell at me all you want but you know I'm right"

"You were the one who said that it was about time for them to be together the first time we found out about them being a couple, remember?" Aria was trying to bring some sense into Hanna

"Yeah, when I was two hundred percent over my level of stress because Spencer's twin was chasing us. All that Alison – Emily drama was very tiring so, for me it was a relief to know they were together. It was one less thing to annoy me"

"Wow… it's so good to know you are the romantic one" Aria said ironically

"I don't said this often" Spencer intervened "but Hanna is right, Aria. The three of us know what happened between Paige and Emily all those years ago and how Alison's pregnancy affected their relationship for good. Emily and Alison lived in their magical bubble until the thing blew up in their faces. And let's be honest for a second; it takes one McCullers to move Emily's world so we should start facing facts and stop playing dumb" she drank from her glass again trying to calm herself a bit.

Spencer was really upset to see how her cousin and one of her best friends were living a miserable life just because they decided it would be better for their family. Family that was forced in the first place. She's tried to approach the subject several times but it's been hard when both parts insist that everything is fine. So, at this point there was nothing to do but wait.

* * *

"Ok. I want the truth Emily. What's going on?" Alison was annoyed by Emily's behavior by now, things were already bad enough to on top of everything she had to deal with her changing mood. She wasn't stupid, she had noticed Emily's attitude but most important she had noticed when everything started.

"I already told you. I have a headache, that's all" Emily insisted. She was in a defensive mode now

"You really want me to believe that...? I've been paying attention Emily, things have changed since..." but Emily didn't let her finish

"Don't!" Emily cut her off "I know where you're going with this"

Alison looked at her for a few seconds before talking again "tell me I'm wrong, tell me Paige has nothing to..."

"That's enough Alison, if you want to talk about us then this is certainly not the right place, or time" Emily was trying to control her voice

"Then when is it, Emily? Because it seems all we do lately is fight, we don't even talk anymore. This situation is driving me crazy" Alison fought back

"And you think Paige is the reason? We've been like this way before she came back" Emily whispered, not wanting to make a scene in her ex's house. Her annoyance was growing pretty fast and it looked like Alison's too

"She's not back Emily, she just came here to visit and in a few days she'll be back home, to her family and to her life and you... you should start doing the same" Alison turned around going back to the back yard, leaving Emily with a lot of things in her mind and a heavy weight in her chest.

She was looking at the floor, lost herself in her thoughts, when she felt a hand on her arm "Em?" that voice; that husky and beautiful voice "is everything ok?" she raised her head to find Paige standing next to her

"Yeah... yeah, everything fine" Emily answered with a weak smiled on her face

"Are you sure? You look a little bit... off" Emily smiled at her, after all those years Paige was still the caring person she met.

"Everything fine, I promise... I... I have a little headache, that's all" she smiled sadly. The woman was truly worried about her, like she always is... or more like she used to be

"Nothing we can't solve..." she smiled "come with me" Paige took Emily's hand oblivious of the effect over the other woman. She guided Emily through a long hallway until they reached a door that Emily assumed was the bathroom, confirming her guess once they walked in "I have some aspirins over here" Paige left Emily's hand, the tanned girl missing the contact immediately "Heather carries a bottle wherever we go. She says is better to be prepare" she said dreamily, almost as if she could hear her wife's voice "here..." she handed Emily the pill and fill a glass with water for her

"Thank you" Emily said, taking the pill and the glass of water. She took the aspirin in silence, glancing at Paige discretely. Once she finished, she gave the glass back to Paige

"Wait for a couple of minutes and the pill will make effect" she looked at Emily who was distractedly looking at the floor "Em?" Emily looked up at her but said nothing "is not only a headache, isn't it?" Paige asked, waiting for some kind of response but she only got a sad look "I know I'm not one of the girls but I'm here if you need me. If you need to talk to someone and get a new perspective, I can help" she offered

Emily thought about it for a couple of seconds, the idea of freeing her soul out to Paige very tempting to let it pass but just like her discussion with Alison; that wasn't the right place or time "Look, Paige… I'd love to tell you everything but I don't want to do this in the middle of your son's birthday party"

"Ok. Tell you what… let's go back to the party, enjoy ourselves a little bit and we can meet tomorrow. Coffee date…?" Paige asked hopefully "I'll buy… What do you say?" she insisted when she saw doubt in Emily's eyes. She truly wanted to help the other woman with whatever she was facing

"Deal…" Emily smiled softly, relief that at least she was going to avoid Paige for a bit longer

"Awesome. Let's go then…" Paige offered her hand to Emily and the other woman took it immediately.

They went back to the backyard and Emily rejoined her friends' group

"Everything alright?" Hanna asked even when she already knew the answer

Emily looked around looking for her wife, she spotted Alison talking with Heather and William and then took her attention back to Hanna

"Fine…" was Emily's cold answer

"Em…" Spencer wanted to address the elephant in the room but Emily didn't let her

"I'm fine, Spencer. Everything is ok…"

Spencer knew better than to argue with her; it was pointless to fight a battle that wasn't hers, even when that battle was destroying one of the people she cares the most painfully slow.

"Time for the birthday cake" Heather's mother yelled to call the kids attention and to invite the rest of their guests to join them.

Everyone got around the table waiting for Daniel to blow the candles and that's when Emily saw it; the perfect family portrait. She looked at Paige and Heather, each of them smiling widely next to their son, effortlessly enjoying the moment. She then looked at Alison who was next to Pam carrying one of the twins each and her wife's words automatically played in her head again.

- _She's not back Emily, in a few days she'll be back home, to her family and to her life and you... you should start doing the same-_

And that was a fact, a fact that is better for her to start accepting. She was not going to destroy two families because her feelings suddenly came back stronger than before. She buried those feelings once and that's exactly what she was going to do again. For everybody's sake.

* * *

 **Let me know what you think... till next update :)**


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